Destiny and Identity Luke 8:16-21

By the church, all of you regular attenders and all those who are visiting with us, we hope you feel welcome today. If you have a bulletin in front of you, we will go through our announcements for the week.

And we have a Birmingham that we return tonight at 6 p .m. So please feel free to join us at that time. And if you notice that the summer Bible study is weekly. And it will be this Friday, July the 7th at 5 .30, going through the book of Hebrews.

And all are welcome to that Bible study. And then, if you notice also that the Bible counseling course continues the second and fourth Saturday of each month. And it will continue through the summer. And it will be July the 8th at 11 a .m.

And that's this coming Saturday. So put that on your calendar. And there is a plan. We look forward to that time. The sermons have said that they would desire to follow the Lord in baptism. And if you would desire to follow the Lord in baptism and have not been baptized after you received the Lord, you feel free to talk with a pastor or myself or Brother Harold in that time.

And also take note that our missionary of the month this month is John and Becky Knox. They are missionaries in Japan. And they have a Bible studies. They have a regular church that meets. And also they have a missions camp.

But they also teach English, which is a very, it's in for them through giving the gospel. So remember John and Becky Knox in your prayers. So everybody stand with me. And all you kids will leave your candle.

Kids my age too. Give to us. Thank you, Lord, for the life that you put within us when we accept you. We pray, Heavenly Father, that we as individuals and as a church might be a light in this community.

And people that see the light might glorify you. We would pray for this service and for each that has come here today. We would pray, Heavenly Father, that you would give them your word. That we would apply it to our hearts.

And we would thank you for it. Be with the pastor as he brings your word. Speak through him and the things that you've laid on his heart. And we would thank you for that. We think of this holiday weekend where we as America celebrate the Fourth of July.

The liberties that you have given to us, Lord. We realize that as a country you've given us liberty. As believers you've given us liberty in Christ. And we thank you for that. Now go before us in all that we say and do.

May it be great to be in your house today. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

Let's be seated as the children are dismissed in Children's Church. And I hand it over to Pastor Elgin.

The Lamp on the Stand and the Need to Hear Christ's Word

Please turn with me to Luke chapter 8, verses 16 through 21. Luke chapter 8, verses 16 through 21. No one, when he has lit a lamp, covers it with a vessel or puts it under a bed, but sets it on a lampstand that those who enter may see the light.

For nothing is secret that will not be revealed, nor anything hidden that will not be known and come to light. Therefore take heed how you hear. For whoever has, to him more will be given. And whoever does not have, even what he seems to have will be taken from him.

Then his mother and brothers came to him and could not approach him because of the crowd. And it was told him by some who said, Your mother and your brothers are standing outside desiring to see you. And he answered and said to them, My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it.

This is the word of the Lord. Let us pray. Father, we are thankful that we get to worship you and worship with a body who cares about your word, who treasures your word, who fears your word. And Father, we are thankful even for this country that gives us the freedom to worship you freely.

And thank you for all those who have sacrificed their lives to make it possible. Father, we pray that today for people who have not responded to your word, that you would work in their hearts, that your spirit would enliven their hearts so that they may respond to your word correctly.

In Jesus' name, amen. So this is the last section. This is the last section of the big portion of Luke, where it was from Luke chapter 8, verses 4 through 21. That portion focused on the importance of responding to God's word, right?

Chapter 4 started with the parable of the sowers, and Jesus interpreted that parable, how there are varieties, various ways, various types of people who respond to the word of God. And unfortunately, only one type of people actually respond to the word of God correctly, and that is the one who actually receives the word and responds in faith, producing fruit.

And this week, we're going to go over why we do need to respond to Jesus' words, why we need to respond to Jesus' words. And this is really important today. We do live in a nation where we have been blessed with so many resources, but not only that, so much access to God's word.

If you stay in a hotel room, there is most likely a Gideon's Bible there. If you go to a bookstore, there's at least one Bible there. If you even go to a thrift store, in the book portion, right, where they sell old books, used books, they have Bibles there.

The Bible, the access to God's word has never been this open. And there's so many apps for Bible, right? You can get any translation you want without having to pay for it. There are websites where you can even highlight it.

There's so much access to God's word. Unfortunately, that's such a blessing. We don't necessarily receive that with gratitude. Unfortunately, we live in a pluralistic society where the Bible is just one of many options, one of many holy books.

In fact, unfortunately, the access to the Bible has actually caused people to even make fun of the word of God, right? They treat the Bible as if it's an outdated book, as if our modern sensitivity is so much beyond what God has to say to us this morning.

But I would like to say that today's text really focuses on the important need for all to respond to God's word. It's not just the sum. It's that there is an urgency there that Jesus is pointing out. Jesus is not just recommending it.

There is an eschatological urgency to how one responds to God's word. Just because the word of God is so accessible and so common in this nation does not mean that it is less important or less valuable.

In fact, this morning, if you have not responded to what Jesus has done, which Scripture tells us, in dying for our sin and rising from the dead, today would be the day that you need to respond. Oftentimes, people say, I'll think about it, I'll push it off.

I don't have to worry about that right now. I'm not dying. But really, this morning, Jesus' words are that people do need to respond. And how one responds to God's word will determine their destiny. And in fact, the main point of this text is that our response to Jesus' words determine our destiny and identity.

Our response to Jesus' words determine our destiny and identity. First, we must faithfully respond to Jesus' words because it is the light that exposes and evaluates everything. We must faithfully respond to Jesus' words because it is the light that exposes and evaluates everything.

So building on from last week's parable regarding the various responses to God's word, Jesus shares a short proverb that highlights the importance of responding to His word. No one, when he has lit a lamp, covers it with a vessel or puts it under a bed but sets it on a lampstand that those who enter may see the light.

Now, much shorter than a parable here. It's just a verse. This is what we call a proverb. And this proverb is straightforward to understand. The purpose of lighting a lamp is so that all can see it. Therefore, it would be counterproductive to hide it or conceal it in any way, right?

Put it under a vessel or under the bed. Now, the light must be on a stand where it is on a higher ground so it actually produces light for all to see who enters the room. It makes all things around it visible.

Now, the difficult task here is what is the light referring to? Now, in Matthew's text, in Matthew's proverb, right, the light refers to the disciples' good works, which we sang about this morning, right?

The light is reflected when people of God who believe and do good works and other people who see that light give glory to the Father who is in heaven. Now, contextually here, Luke's focus is actually not disciples' work but the very word of God.

So, first, this comes right after the parable of the sower, right, in which seeds are planted in different soils and the seed represents the word of God. And then, second, verses 17 through 18 will not make sense if we impose the meaning of Matthew 5's proverb here, right?

After all, would the disciples' good works expose the hidden things, right? This light functions as an exposure, right? Also, how would we apply verse 18's warning to take heed in what we hear, what we listen, right?

And all throughout from verse 4 to verse 21, it's all about listening. It's about hearing and responding the right way. So, Luke's focus is on the need, our need to respond to God's word. Light, according to this proverb in Luke 8, refers to Jesus' teaching or Jesus' words.

And as light cannot be ignored, Jesus' teaching demands a response, right? You cannot unsee light. Even if you close your eyes, you know that the light is still on. Light not only makes all things visible, but it's hard to ignore.

It's obvious. Now, what is the function of light? What is the function of this light? Verse 17, for nothing is secret that will not be revealed, nor anything hidden that will not be known and come to light.

The function of Jesus' words is that it will expose all the hidden things. Jesus has the authority to expose and evaluate all the secrets. One day, every hidden thought, every concealed crime, every evil intention will come before the light.

Nothing will escape Jesus' authoritative word. And how must we respond? Verse 18, therefore take heed in what you hear. This is a call to respond. Those who hear Jesus' word must pay attention. Don't let Jesus' word just enter through one ear and exit through the other, right?

Don't let Jesus' word be just another competing voice in your life, but let it be the ultimate priority and authority. And what is the reason for taking heed? What is the reason for paying attention? Well, for whoever has, to him more will be given.

And whoever does not have, even what he seems to have will be taken from him. This shows the two eschatological results, eschatological meaning relating to the last days, right? The last day results of how one responds to Jesus' teaching.

Those who respond to Jesus' word, they will receive more spiritual blessing than they initially received. Your salvation day is not the end. There's more to come. Now, a positive response to Jesus' word will bear even more fruit and more blessing.

And it is a wise investment that keeps on growing. However, those who reject Jesus' word will lose even what he seems to have. Notice how Jesus phrases this. The rejecter is not losing what he has, as if he initially had something in the beginning, right?

But what he seems to have. In the end, if you do not listen to Jesus, you really do not have anything in the first place to lose. Rejecting Jesus even further reveals your spiritual bankruptcy. Now, like light, Jesus' words are public.

This is important. For Christianity, there is no secret group you have to join. There are no secret meetings at this church for some greater truth. No elite cabals. You hear it, and you must make a choice.

If you have heard that Jesus died for your sin on the cross and rose on the third day, you have a choice to make. Do you believe that? Do you trust that with your life? Or do you just reject it? You hear it, and it's clear.

You don't need a theological degree. You don't need an expert to explain every little detail. Well, the Greek word here means you don't need that. How will you respond to Jesus' life, death, and resurrection is the question for today.

Will you respond to it? It's obvious like light. It's clear. I've been around way too many people with PhDs in theological education that try to confuse what's clearly understandable even for a child.

Jesus died for me so that I wouldn't have to. Jesus took my sin, and he faced the judgment that I deserved, and he rose from the dead on the third day. That is the most important response you need to make in your life.

And you don't need any theological education to clearly understand that. And what's unfortunate is that people in the academia try to muddle this to make it more confusing than it is or to make it so that it's not that clear.

To make it so that actually there's so much more you need to do. And that's just heretical. Unlike other religions, there is no hierarchy, right, of the knowledge of God. It's publicly known. Whatever you read in Scripture, the meaning comes from what the author intended, not some hidden groups, not some secret groups.

You respond to what's publicly proclaimed. And like light, Jesus' words expose. Jesus' words will expose all the hidden things. Nothing will remain in the shadows before Christ's commanding light. Now, many Christians are deeply bothered by the wicked people around the world or even in our nation.

And all these things they do, and they get away with it. And what's deeply concerning, if what's known publicly is so evil, how much more wicked and perverse are their private lives? What we don't know.

And what Jesus tells us this morning is that even all of their deeds will have to face the light. There is an expiration date for their evil activities. Before Jesus, their powers and influences will not protect them whatsoever.

And before that day, they too must respond to Jesus. And how they respond to Jesus will greatly change where they end up in their destiny. But this is also important in the church. There are a lot of people in the church who believe that if you just say the right things, if you just say the right jargon, right?

Oh, yes, I must follow God in this manner. Oh, yes, I serve in this manner. I teach here and I do this. If they just pretend that they'll just get away with it and people will believe that they're saved.

And what's concerning here is that even those people will be exposed on the last days. You can't fake your faith. It's either you believe what Jesus says or you don't. And it will all be exposed. And ultimately, Jesus' words evaluate.

It is not just the exposure, but his word evaluates. This means Jesus sets the standards. We live in a time in which evil is praised as good. And then good is framed as bigoted. And you hear the slogan like, oh, it's 21st century.

I don't have to follow that. Oh, that's so backward. That's just history will judge. Actually, history will not judge. Jesus will judge. We find here that none of us will be judging based upon our own twisted standards.

The standard is set by his words. The most pressing question on anyone's mind ought to be when making decisions and evaluations is, what is Jesus' view on this matter? Do I buy this or not? Do I go to this or not?

Do I read this book or not? Do I watch this movie or not? Well, what is Jesus' view on this matter? Do I date this person or not? Do I go to this school or that school? What is Jesus' view on this matter?

This means your decisions are made not by your fallible pastor's view. Your decisions are made not by the crooked cultural trend. And your decisions are made not by the perverse papal bulls. Those are papal authoritative statements made by the pope.

In the end, everyone and everything will be judged by Jesus according to us and according to his standard. And this is really important in our personal lives as well. Christians really need to remember what is Jesus' view of us.

I think oftentimes we stare deeply at what another person, another imperfect, sinful person thinks of us. We play it in our mind. We hear it over and over again. We repeat it to ourselves. Oh, he said this.

He thinks of me this way. She said this. What would she say? What does she think of me? Read the text message over and over again. Read the email over and over again. And we only glimpse at what Jesus, our Lord and Savior, thinks of us.

It's an idolatrous thought, isn't it? To put a human being's standard of who you are and their view of you before how Jesus thinks of you. If you trust in Jesus' atoning death on the cross, Jesus' view of you outmatch even the most positive view anyone on earth can have of you.

Even the highest praise from the most noble and most reputable person in the whole world is just a drop in the bucket compared to what Jesus thinks of you if you trust him as Lord and Savior. Ultimately, we all will be judged based upon Jesus' words.

It's his standard. No one else's. Now, how does Jesus relate to those who faithfully respond to hearing his word? Jesus considers those who hear and do God's word as his family. Jesus considers those who hear and do God's word as his family.

Now, the miniseries on the importance of responding to Jesus' words ends with the identification of those who do respond to his word. Verse 19 sets the context. Then his mother and brothers came to him and could not approach him because of the crowd.

The main problem of this section is introduced in verse 19. Jesus' ministry has become so popular that even his biological family cannot approach him. Note that Jesus' mother Mary, whom we know from Luke 1 and 2, the faithful woman, shows up here.

Not only that, we get Jesus' half-siblings, other children that Mary had with Joseph after Jesus. So, contrary to the Catholic tradition, scripture makes clear that after Mary gave birth to Jesus, she had other children.

She did not remain a virgin. That is not her identity. And such a tradition is countercultural. And they made that decision later in history, too, to make it an official doctrine of the church. And it's just not found in scripture.

Now, ultimately, someone from the crowd lets Jesus know about his family standing outside, right? And it was told him by some who say, hey, your mother and your brothers are standing outside desiring to see you.

So, most people would rightfully prioritize their family members, right? There's actually, and I think that's a biblical thing. You've got to prioritize your family members. People who claim to be Christians but don't care, take care of their family members, Paul says they're worse than their own believers, right?

And also, it's really sad to see fathers not involved in spiritual leadership of the family, you know? It's really sad to see wives and children abandoned by the father, even though they're physically there, but they're not spiritually leading.

Now, in ancient Israel, familial ties, familial relationship, would have been even stronger than in modern America, especially California, right? So, Jesus' response is quite important. What is he going to say?

Now, Jesus' response to this message is not, my family will have to wait because I don't give special treatment, but thank you for your message, or I will go out to them now. Rather, it is a totally unexpected instruction regarding his ministry.

My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it. The uniqueness of this response is manifold. First, Jesus takes this scenario as an opportunity to teach the crowd. Rather than responding to the message directly by going to his family or bringing his family to him, Jesus reveals the reality of his kingdom.

My family is those who do hear and do the word of God. Second, Jesus does not give any preferential treatment to his biological family. That is, that would have been very countercultural. Now, again, the context of this is not, how to best take care of your family, because the Bible is very clear how one takes care of the family.

But the context here is, who is Jesus' family? What's their identity? Third, Jesus redefines his family in relation to how one responds to the word of God. Jesus' family is not those who share his bloodline, but those who share his priority.

Jesus' family are those who hear the word of God and do it. What Jesus and his family have in common is not genetics. It's not, okay, 50 with Mary and 25 with the half-brothers. No, it's not the common bloodline, but it's the same allegiance.

Those who hear the word of God and do it. And the correct response here is not a mere mental agreement, but rather a faithful, active response to the hearing of God's word. What Jesus is telling us is that if you truly believe what I preach to you, right, if you truly believe the words of Jesus, then it will look different in your life.

Your life will be changed. Jesus does not want a mere desk theologian, but a doer of the word. What does this mean? At this point in Jesus' ministry, his reputation has grown so large that a private audience with him has become very difficult, even for his mother and his brothers.

And normally, famous celebrities, powerful politicians, when they do become really influential and crowds follow them wherever they go, they still make time, right? And they're still available to those who are special to them, right?

Their spouses, children, and even their billionaire donors. However, during the growing influence of Jesus' earthly ministry, Jesus reveals whom he considers special in his life. And those who are special in Jesus' life are those who hear and faithfully respond to his word.

Jesus is closer to those who faithfully respond to his word than those who share the same mother. Think about that. Those who respond faithfully to hearing the word of God are special and dear to Jesus himself.

In fact, it's their new identity. This morning, if you have responded to Christ in faith, Jesus considers you his brother or sister. You may have lost friends or family members because of your faith in Christ.

They don't really want to associate with you because you are too Christian. But Christ considers you his family. You might be that weird uncle or weird aunt during family gathering talking about Jesus too much.

But Christ considers you his family. You're that one person in your friend group who doesn't curse, who doesn't want to talk about these crude jokes, and your friends seem a little bit more distant than they used to be before you were saved.

And you start to not get invited to parties, birthday parties, weddings, big events. But Christ considers you his family. Whatever you have lost from following Christ, you have gained someone infinitely more precious.

You have gained Christ. The creator of the whole world is your family. Logically, the creator is better than all of creation. Now, second, this also changes how you interact and view other believers. Next time you get irritated and yell at your spouse, who is a believer, his identity is not primarily your spouse.

You're yelling at a brother of Jesus. What's convicting is if a spouse yells at another, so if a husband yells at his wife, a good question is, would you yell at Debbie Hoffman at church? And the answer is obviously no.

That would be so wrong. Now, what business do you have yelling at another sister in Christ? And it goes both ways, right? Yelling is not just subjected to one gender. If you're yelling at your husband because he's done something annoying for the 100th time, would you yell at Harold Hoffman at church?

Their identity is primarily in Christ. Their identity is not your spouse. Their eternal identity is that they are a brother or sister of Christ. When you gossip about your believing friend, gossiping is just confessing another person's sin to a mortal human being.

You're slandering or gossiping about a sister in Christ. That's whom Christ calls my sister. Are you ready to deal with Christ when you see him about that? Positively, when you're raising your kids, your primary goal is not to raise them to fit into society, right?

Oftentimes, there's that common thing to be a helpful or beneficial member of society. You hear that over and over again in education setting or even your family might have said that. I'm raising you to be a beneficial, helpful member of the society.

For Christian parents, however, you're discipling future brothers and sisters in Christ. Their identity is not primarily your son, your daughter. God has given these children to you for maybe two decades because that's when you have the most amount of authority and influence over them, right?

When they're grown adults, they do what they do. But the 20 years that you have with them, the primary goal is to raise them up in Christ so that they become your brothers and sisters in Christ. That would be their identity before your son, before your daughter.

And that's because how you respond to Jesus' Word changes everything about you. And how one responds to Jesus' Word changes everything about him. And this morning, that's why it's so urgent to respond to Jesus' Word.

It's literally life-changing. It changes who you are and your future forever. Let us pray. Father, we're thankful that we get to hear your Word and respond to your Word. And we pray that those of us who have not responded to your Word, that you would move in their hearts to respond.

And we also pray that those of us who think they have responded to the Word but didn't, you would clearly reveal to them that they need to respond. We ask that your Spirit would work among all of us through your Word.

In Jesus' name, amen.